“Why would he lie to make himself even more unattractive to an alpha?”
Jonah rocked forward. “Maybe he didn’t like you.”
Don’t let him throw you off your game. You know better,Malinekan said.
My fists clenched. My voice rose. “I want to see him now!”
“I’ve changed my mind.” He stood, tossing his phone onto the desk. “You may leave the premises now.”
12
Cassius
Voices raised in anger. Klonis opened the door and we both looked in. Malin and the foreman were arguing.
“I want him. I want to see him now.”
“I’ve changed my mind. You may leave the premises now.”
Malin stood tall and commanding. Jonah stood behind his desk all puffed out. I saw they were about to go at it. But still, all I could think was that Malin was here. And he wanted to see me? He’d said as much and now it looked like he was going to fight for it. Like in ancient times when alphas fought each other, often to the death, for prized omegas.
I didn’t feel much like a prize, but a rush of ecstasy went through me, warming me from my toes to the top of my head. I was nothing. No one. But an alpha was willing to fight for me? Even if I was fought over for the wrong reasons, not for freedom but a new ownership, it stirred something inside me. In this moment, that made me someone again. Someone seen. A person.
I pulled away from Klonis’s grasp. “I’ll go with him.”
Jonah glared at me. “You don’t have a right to make that decision.”
“I want to go with him. I’ll make no trouble. I promise.”
Jonah laughed. “You have no power to negotiate.” He faced Malin. “You have the power only to rent. And it’s by the hour.”
“How much is that for a lifetime, say for fifty or sixty years?”
“W—what?” I sputtered.
Jonah laughed again. “More than you have.”
“Are you sure?”
The room went quiet. I heard my breaths coming faster. What was Malin doing? He didn’t know me, not really. How many hours were there in fifty years? I couldn’t do that kind of math.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Klonis typing on his phone. About ten seconds later he said, “438,300 hours in fifty years.”
Jonah’s smile turned positively evil. “A set omega for rent averages $100 an hour.”
Klonis’s eyebrows rose and he chuckled. “That’s 43.83 million dollars.”
My mouth dropped open.
Malin cursed, tossing his head. He looked immaculate again, wearing a white shirt with a brocade vest and dark purple trousers of soft wool. He had on gold rings and a gold watch surrounded by chain bracelets. He was rich. For sure. But not that rich.
It was a nice thought, though. To be fought for. To be liked enough to be seen in a way I never dreamed of from the moment I was sold to the ranch.
I waited for Malin to turn and leave. Instead, he took out his phone. He did something on it, then looked up.
“With fifty percent off for sterility. And fifty percent off that new amount for cash, that makes it 10,957,500. Your websiteoffers a ten percent discount to repeat customers, of which I am one. That makes it 9,861,750.” He squinted closer at his phone. “Looks like I can get a coupon off your website, as well.”
He had to be joking. The playboy bad boy was probably a master of jokes. But he didn’t smirk or laugh or stop what he was doing. He simply said, “That’s another fifteen percent off.” He poked at his phone some more. “That makes it $8,382,487. Plus, fifty cents.” He looked up at Jonah.
